Orange “Sound Charge” T-Shirt for Glastonbury

The music festival season is underway in the UK, with Glastonbury Festival starting tomorrow. To celebrate, Orange have invented a t-shirt that recharges mobile phones using a piezoelectric material to convert sound waves into electricity. Over a weekend of music, the t-shirt will produce enough juice to charge a smartphone.

The t-shirts were developed by Orange in conjunction with GotWind, renewable energy specialists. The piezoelectric film charges a battery pack from which the wearer can then charge his or her phone. At the Festival, user testing will determine which musical performances give the best charge. Personally, I’d guess the loudest.

Andrew Pearcey, Head of Sponsorship at Orange UK said: “In a vibrant festival environment such as Glastonbury, sound is such an obvious medium that it seemed like a natural fit to use it in the development of this year’s prototype….It could even influence trends in fashion, with designers looking to integrate this passive charging solution into clothing.”

Orange has a history of innovative phone charging solutions for festivals. Last year, the Power Welly generated power from walking and in previous years there have been the Power Pump and the Dance Charger.

You can read the full press release here – it’s hilarious and there’s a video too. You couldn’t make this stuff up.